Sometimes guests from the Northern Europe subregion are also invited: Finland has participated in the event twice, Iceland once, and Faroe Islands made a debut appearance in 2024.

[1][2] As Estonia had unofficially declared itself the Baltic football champion in 1925, 1926 and 1927 based on matches played with Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland it was decided in 1928 to organize an official tournament.

[3] The tournament was intended to improve relations between the nations, but intrigues around the organization and budget questions worked against this goal.

In 1933 Lithuanian hosts surprised the officials with a tour to a local brewery in Kaunas in the morning before the Lithuania–Latvia match.

The Estonian newspaper Päevaleht reported that the Finnish referee for the match was really jolly, but did a horrible job, mostly favouring the Lithuanian hosts.

The original silver trophy of the Baltic Cup was seized by the Soviets in 1940 and subsequently lost after reportedly being taken to Moscow.